Jen Crochets! (and does other crafty stuff!)

Tribute to Grandma

2008-11-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Last month, I lost two of my grandparents. My Mom's mom and my Dad's dad died just over 24 hours apart.

Grandpa's Obituary:
http://www.thonline.com/obits/obituary.cfm?id=220610

Grandma's Obituary:
http://www.thonline.com/obits/obituary.cfm?id=220613

I was visiting Iowa when both events happened, and thankfully, was able to spend this difficult time surrounded by family, instead of alone in LA.

Grandma Breen passed so peacefully, she just faded away. She was 94 years old and had suffered with dementia for the last 8 years. It's a bit of a relief now, to know that she's no longer confused and scared, but up in heaven rocking the babies to sleep by singing the Irish Lullaby to them, as she used to love to do with all of us as infants.

She was an amazing woman. She and my Grandpa Breen had 10 kids; 5 boys, 5 girls. When she passed she was surrounded by 8 of her children, all her son- and daughter-in-laws and 6 of her 30 grandchildren. She also had 31 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, their oldest son, Jim, 2 of her grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

She raised her 10 kids to be wonderful adults, and always made sure they had what they needed before she got her own, whether it was a meal or new shoes. I think it's an amazing testament to how loved and respected she was that every single one of her 30 grandchildren dropped everything and were able to make it back from all corners of the country to attend her funeral and celebrate her life. There wasn't even a doubt from anyone, we HAD to be there. She had a way of making each of us feel as though we were her favorite. I only hope that some day I can inspire the same devotion and love in my own children and grandchildren.

Her spirit, her compassion, her laughter, and her love will live on in each of us.

Below is the Eulogy written and shared at her funeral by my cousin Carrie. I think that she says it better than I ever could aspire to:

Eulogy by Carrie Bolshaw
Grandma Breen was our rock. Our true north, and the calm you knew was coming after the storm. She was the anchor that never let your boat drift out to sea. For all of us, she was this and more;

She was pure,
She was honest,
She was strong,
She was humble,
And most of all, she was loving.

We have all spent the past week remembering and sharing our stories. Some we’re hearing for the first time, others we could recite word for word. In all of them, we learned more about a woman we love deeply.

Like how you would open her front door at any time and be greeted with the smell of fresh baked bread. Or how she sang the Irish lullaby to calm and comfort all of us and our children. She kept us warm with her hand-sewn quilts; her love was in every stitch.

Grandma Breen had an infectious laugh. She would giggle until tears filled her eyes, and when you looked around - everyone was laughing with her.

We remember piling into her house on Christmas; how condensation would collect on the windows as the snow fell outside. She wouldn’t have it any other way, and neither would we.

She was there for our birthdays, first communions, baptisms, graduations and weddings. She attended our concerts, our plays, and our sports. Grandma committed herself to attending our lives, and we are all better for it. Each of us knew that we were her favorite.

She never wanted more than she had, and she was thankful for all she was given.

And so as we come together today, we know that Grandma Breen is in everyone one of us. The things she taught us we now teach our children, and hope they in turn teach theirs. Because of this, we know she will live on forever.

~~~~~
This is a short video clip I took of her on her front porch in July of 2002, singing one of her favorite songs. She may not have known who we were all the time, but she never forgot the words to her favorite songs. As we gathered around her bedside during her last days, some of the only times she responded were while we sang to her these words:

Goodbye, Grandma Breen. I love you and miss you.

Ravelry

2007-10-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

So, I signed up for Ravelry. Not quite sure exactly what i'm supposed to do now, but joining seemed to be the 'in thing' to do! :)

My name on there is Jennifah if you want to look me up.

LOST (and hopefully found) at WeHo SnB!

2007-09-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

HELP! I think I left my cute little plastic container that I keep all my crocheting 'notions' in at the WeHo SnB last night!! It has a mostly clear white lid and a purple-y bottom and it doesn't latch properly anymore. Contained inside are a needle gauge, stitch markers, embroidery needles, scissors, tape measure, dental floss (for when I'm flying and can't carry on a scissors), 'crocheted by jennifer' labels and that sort of thing in it. I also think I may have left part of a skein of white yarn sitting with it.

Did anyone happen to pick it up?? I'd hate to have to replace all that stuff!!! (It would be a big pain in the butt do find the $$ to do that since I'm unemployed and all!)

I'm so bummed out about this 'cause I *actually* wanted to work on my friend's baby's blanket tonight, and all my embroidery needles are in the missing case!!!

Speaking of the blanket...here's the most recent pic of my progress:

*****UPDATE*****

The lost kit has been found!! Thank you Sara for keeping it safe for me!

Wonder how many people I know will be on this show?

2007-08-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

New look....

2007-07-31T15:42:00.001-07:00

what do you think of the new look of my blog?

So close!!

2007-07-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it's no longer possible to finish this baby blanket BEFORE the baby is born!

This was sent to my phone yesterday morning:

Baby Boy. 9lbs 8oz, 22in. All fine. Name-TBD.

Maybe I'll get it done before they decide on a name! At least I hope they didn't name him "TBD", that'd be a really odd name, but Kevin (baby's daddy) *IS* pretty strange!!

I've actually made lots of progress this week. I guess being unemployed is good for SOMETHING. (just wish it paid better! If you know anyone in need of an Emmy nominated video editor, send them my way!)

**UPDATE: baby name: Jack Gavin K****. And I have the last row of 'white' centers done, and the yellow 'outsides' done! So, just two more sets of 'outsides' for the last two two-toned rows and I can start assembling them together!

Stupid Bird Took My Emmy!

2007-06-17T10:12:00.001-07:00

You may or may not know this, but I was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Achivement in Multicamera Editing".

We didn't win. : ( Sesame Street took home the prize in our category. Stupid Big Bird!

I did have a great time at the Creative Arts Awards Ceremony though. Here are some pics of the event:

Obviously, not MY statue! Our show DID win for Makeup and Hairstyling. This is the statue won by our Makeup Artists!

And now for something completely different!

2007-03-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Actual crocheting! This is a pattern from the "Happy Hooker" book. It's the belt/scarf/guitar strap pattern. I chose to make it as a guitar strap as a Christmas/Birthday present for a cousin. I didn't make it quite as wide as the pattern, as the strap hooks I found only allowed for part of the width the pattern called for.
I struggled a bit with trying to figure out HOW to turn it into an adjustable strap. The guy at the guitar store suggested I buy a plain strap and sew it on, but my concern with that was that it wouldn't be adjustable, or the only ways to make it adjustable would be to only sew part of it down, which didn't sound like it would be a very good solution. I did buy the plain strap to try to get ideas from it. As I was studying it, I realized that I could just take my brand new seam ripper (it came with my brand new sewing machine) and use the plastic parts and just thread my crocheted creation through in place of the original strap!
Then I took my brand new sewing machine (it came with my brand new seam ripper!) and sewed it in place much more securely than I would have been able to do by hand. (Which is how I thought I'd have to do it until I got the sewing machine)

The yarn I used was Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I ordered Harvest, Malibu Blue, Midnight Blue and Goldenrod. They were out of the Harvest and replaced it with Barn Red, which they said went nicely with the other colors I had chosen. I think that it worked out ok.

This is the project I took with me the night my 18-year-old cousin and I stayed up outside a Best Buy store all night in order to get our siblings Ninetndo Wii's for Christmas....

We had thought that being in California would be much nicer than being in Iowa (where she lives), as December in L.A. isn't usually that cold. We were wrong! It was FREEZING! It rained all day leading up to the all-nighter. I think the temps in Iowa were actually warmer than what we sat in! But we had a couple very appreciative siblings on Chirstmas morning. And the all-nighter is probably the only way I managed to finish the strap, as I was WAY behind on it before this night, and finished the night with only 1 row left to do.

I know I didn't crochet this...

2007-01-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

but I did make it with the sewing machine I got for Christmas.
So, I guess this blog is more 'jen makes and fixes stuff' than 'jen crochets'! Which is likely to be the case for a while, as I have a lot of crafty (and some, not-so-crafty fixer-upper-type) ideas for my new condo! Now, if I only had the time to make them all!
The reason I put a curtain on a closet on the stairwell landing is that's where my cats' litterbox is. When I was shopping for a new home, I wanted a place where the litterbox would be out of sight, but not totally out of mind (otherwise I'd always forget to clean it out!) When I saw this little closet on the landing of the stairs, I knew I had found the perfect new home! :) I took the door off the closet (because the kitties haven't yet mastered opening doors!) and popped the litterbox in it. The only drawback was that it is exposed whenever you walk up or down stairs, which, when it's just me and the furbabies is acceptable, but if I ever have company, I wanted a way to hide it a little more. And since I am in the midst of planning a belated housewarming/belated birthday party, I needed to get to work on concealing it a bit. One thing that I am very proud of (yay me!) is that I didn't use a pattern!!! I made it up all by myself. Of course, curtains are probably about the easiest thing in the world to 'make up', but I don't care. :)

Shadow checks out the new decor. He's too masculine to admit he likes the botanical print. (I think he just wanted to pose for the camera!)

Scout comes downstairs to give her approval.

Windy City Chicago...

2006-12-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is a hat/scarf set I made because I *loved* the pattern and colors in the yarn that the pattern was made with. The pattern is from the "Little Box of Crocheted Hats and Scarves"

I gave it to one of my cousins as a Christmas present. I think she liked it, cause she put the scarf on right away and was wearing it the rest of the night!

Please help with a worthy cause:

2006-12-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine (Sara) and I are participating in a race in February (http://psmarathon.com). She's crazy and doing the half-marathon, while I am only slightly less crazy and participating in the 5k.

The cause that this race is raising money for is one that is near and dear to Sara's heart, so instead of making my OWN fundraising page, I decided to help her out by sending the link to HER page to some of my friends and family.

This is what Sara has to say about this cause:
"I'm currently training for a half marathon and am raising money to
help buy wheelchairs for people in third world countries that would
otherwise be immobile. It costs just $44.40 to buy 1 wheelchair. I'm
trying to raise enough to buy 10. If you can help, check out my
fundraising site!"
Click here to link to her site!

If you are able to, we'd love for you to contribute to this cause, but please don't feel obligated to if it is beyond your ability to give at this time.

Thank you!
Jennifer

Because I just don't have enough things to do...

2006-12-04T23:38:00.000-08:00

... around my condo - things like: UNPACK, finish painting, clean, fix a couple light fixtures, finish crocheting some christmas gifts, write christmas cards, etc. - tonight, i added ANOTHER project!

At least this one was quick and fun!

Background: I bought a small tree (yay! it's fake, but I've never had a tree at my own place before and wasn't sure how the kitties would treat it!) but the star i bought for the top was too heavy and i didn't see any lighter ones anywhere (at least ones I liked).

So tonight, while I was at Michael's buying a crochet hook (I swear, that's ALL I went in to buy!!) I had a brainstorm! Ended up buying the crochet hook, a wreath for my front door, and a ton of craft supplies to make a 'non-traditional' tree topper...check it out:

It looks much better with a baby wearing it...

2006-11-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

Mackenzie Jean, 8 lbs. 4 ounces, 20 inches, 11/23/06 (born thanksgiving morning! now THAT's something to be thankful for!)

Washcloths and soap....

2006-10-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

For my sister-in-law's baby shower I handmade some of the door prizes. I made 'spa cloths' and soap. I only took a couple pics on my own camera at the shower, as my SIL wanted me to take lots of pics on HER camera. (Cara, if you're reading this - I need copies of those pictures to add to this blog!!!) These are the only pictures I have and you can't really see the washcloth or soap: This is my sister in law with my aunt (who one the first of the door prizes)

I also can now reveal pictures of the adorable pink sweater and shoes I crocheted for the new niece:

more non-crochet related pics...

2006-09-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here are more pictures of my new condo.

I took these yesterday at the home inspection.

http://tinyurl.com/gasxh

I just need to find a place to stash my stash and I'm set! :)
I had hoped the window seat in the living room would have storage under it, but no luck there!

Not crochet related...

2006-09-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

But still pretty big news in my life!

I just bought a condo!!! OMG!! it's not a totally done deal yet, but assuming all inspections and appraisals pass, i will be a HOMEOWNER by the end of October!!!!!!
It's a really cute unit, not quite as large as where I am now. But only a few sq. feet smaller, so it's not too bad. I *LOVE* that it has a private garage! Woohoo! It's in not quite as nice a neighborhood as I am in now, but where I am now is REALLY nice, and someday I will be able to afford a place in that kind of neighborhood!

This is the info from the realtor.com listing:
Gated Tri-Level luxury bright townhome with all newer upgrades. Bamboo floors, high ceilings, kitchen has granite, tile floors, stove, dishwasher, microwave, refridge, newer carpet, newer paint, both bedrooms with own bath, lot's of closet space, newer fixtures, private 2 car garage with direct access, washer & dryer, complex offers pool and spa!
Condo/Townhome/Coop Property, County: Los Angeles, Year Built: 1982, Two story, Central air conditioning, Community swimming pool(s), Community spa/hot tub(s), Hardwood floors
•Condo/Townhome/Coop Property
•County: Los Angeles
•Year Built: 1982
•2 total bedroom(s)
•2.5 total bath(s)
•Approximately 1160 sq. ft.
•Two story•Type: Townhouse
•Style: Traditional
•Family room
•Hardwood floors
•2 car garage
•Heating features: Central electric, Central gas
•Central air conditioning
•Interior features: Dishwasher, Disposal, Oven-gas, Microwave, Refrigerator, Range-gas, Dining area, Breakfast bar, Formal dining room, Carpeting, Tile flooring, Laundry in garage, Laundry gas hook-up
•Exterior features: Curbs, Fencing-block, Fencing-wood, Fencing-wrought iron, Lawn-front, Lawn-rear, Garage door opener, Sidewalks, Sprinklers-Automatic, Sprinklers-Front, Sprinklers-Rear, Sprinklers-Side, Street Lights, Streets-Paved, Streets/Public, Sewer-in Street, Utilities/220 Electric, Utilities/Cable TV, Utilities/Gas, Water/Public Utility
•Exterior construction: Stucco/Wood
•Roofing: Composition shingle
•Community park(s)
•Community spa/hot tub(s)
•Community swimming pool(s)
•Pets allowed
•Zoning: R4
Here are the pics from the listing:

Something a little different...

2006-08-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

In my quest to find new and fun things to crochet, I decided the next frontier to explore was WIRE crochet! So, I ordered a couple books that finally arrived last night. And after a quick dash to Michael's, and a little time spent getting the feel of the wire, this is what I ended up with:

Monkeying Around!

2006-08-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

So...it's finally finished! (ok..except for the thousands of ends I still need to weave in!) Here are pics of the completed monkey blanket -

Almost done!

2006-07-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well...the top secret project I posted last time has been put on the back burner for now, because I started working on another project. This is a baby hat and blanket for my soon-to-be-born niece! I have it ALMOST done, just need to finish 2 sides of the border and make and attach the two monkey faces to the blanket. This is the Sock Monkey Blanket from the Stitch 'n Bitch Happy Hooker book. Here are pics:

My "Cat in the Hat." I have never made my cats model my creations before, but I couldn't resist with how cute this was!

Sammy was at Stitch 'n Bitch the night I finished my hat, so I got to try it on a real live baby! The only thing cuter than this hat is the baby it's on!

All the squares are done and whipstitched together!

Closer look at the squares.

Last round of the border almost complete!!

Close up of the border.

This is made with mostly Bernat Softee Chunky. This is the 2nd or 3rd project I have made with this yarn and I *love* it, it's soft, sturdy and SO easy to work with.

Pics of My Current (top secret) WIP...

2006-06-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well, mostly pics of one of my less-than-camera-shy cats, and a bit of crocheted stuff in the background. I'd tell you what the crocheted item is, but then i'd have to sic the cat on you!

Shadow guarding...er...staking his claim on this mystery-crocheted item....

"I just don't understand why she'd want to take pictures of a bunch of yellow yarn, when *I* am right here!" ~ Shadow

And lest she think I like Shadow better, here is Scout posing for her centerfold -

Next finished project...

2006-06-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is going through some major health issues. One of them is a fibroid in her uterus. We were discussing the crocheted/knitted uterus' I've seen online and I told her I would send her a link to some pictures of them, but when looking them up, I realized just HOW simple the pattern was, and I made her her very own fibroid-free crocheted uterus!

I finally finished something, and it "felt" so good!

2006-03-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

Yay! FINALLY! I have another FO! woohoo. I have been wanting to try felting, and found this pattern --> for a cute little hat.

I thought it would be fun to make for my mother for her birthday (mom...if you're reading this...STOP now!) She sometimes has 'red hat' luncheons with friends, and I thought it would look cute in red and purple for her to wear to those lunches.
This is the picture from the website of what this hat should look like "before" felting (left) next to what MY version of the hat looked like "before" felting (right)-

Ok...so being still relatively new to this crochet thing, I made a little mistake when making this hat. The instructions were a little bit confusing to me, and I didn't notice this until reviewing them -- and after crocheting about half the shell rows with purple fun fur --that the 'contrasting eyelash yarn' was supposed to be 100% mohair or wool. Oops. Because, you see, 'fun fur' ISN'T 100% mohair. Hmm...I had to make a decision, do I continue on, or frog it? I decided to continue on, becuase fun fur isn't "fun" to frog. Had I been a more experienced crocheter, I might have done something like modify the pattern by either using a mohair for most/some of the rest of the repeats, only do one row of eyelash yarn for every 2 rows of wool or some other sort of modification. What this boils down to, is that the eyelash yarn didn't shrink up like the wool did, so I am going to have to tack up the shell rows to 'shrink' them down, because as they are, they are a little too much of the hat!

For perspective, here's what the hat looks like worn before felting -

Here is the finished picture of my hat - on the left, the picture from the website showing what it 'should' look like, on the right my version. I think it turned out pretty good for a first try at felting!

I am going to have to go in and trim up the fun fur that is peeking out from the inside of the brim, and I haven't tacked up the rows of shells to shorten them yet, but overall I am really pleased with how it came out. I was very nervous when putting it in the washing machine, not sure if I should just trust that it's going to come out ok, but it did! woohoo!!!

This is a picture of the 'fancy hatblock' I used to shape the hat - it's made from a kitchen canister with a mixing bowl on top of it. (note the specialty clips that I used to hold the brim in place *grin*)

Can I just say I am in LOVE with felting! It's like magic! And I still have most of a skein of the red wool to use up 'experimenting' with more felting! Yay!

Now I can get on to finishing one of the other millon projects I have sitting around.

Long time, no post...

2006-03-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

I've been told I need to update this site, but I haven't finished anything recently. I have about 6 WIPs, but no FOs! Work has been keeping me very, very busy, and I have only had time to crochet at SnB on Thursday nights. I really, really want to find more time to work on things, as I recently purchased the Happy Hooker book and want to make like eleventy-million of the things in it, but alas, earning a paycheck must come first! And I even have a really fancy cool new camera to take pictures, once I actually finish something!

Here are a couple photos I've taken the last couple weeks at SnB of other people actually making things they will someday finish! (Or have probably finished already!)

Here is Ellenwith her latest Seraphina -

And Crystal with the adorable bear she's knitting -

More Madness...

2006-01-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

The last gift I finished (I had planned to make a different hat/scarf for the sis-in-law, but a fever of over 103 for 2 days nixed that getting done!) was for my mom. I started this project in August and finished at the Stitch 'n Bitch 3 weeks before Christmas. It's an afghan from a book called "Thick and Quick Afghans". It may be thick, but 4 months to complete isn't all that quick to me! It's made with Homespun in Mediterranean/Rococo/Ranch and Chenille Quick and Thick Basil. The Ranch was a real tough find. I purchased 2 of the needed 3 skeins at the only local place I could find to get it - JoAnn's. And it was 3 months before they had more of that color in. But luckily, it was the same dye lot!!! By the time I found it at JoAnn's again, I had realized that "duh, I should order it online!!" and I made one last stop at JoAnn's before planning on going home that night to order it online, and they finally had it!! woohoo!

(My mom enjoying her new throw!)

Christmas Madness

2006-01-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

Now that the holidays are over, I can FINALLY post some pictures of the items I made to give out as presents!

First, this is the hat and scarf I made for my cousin, Melissa. She said she loved it and planned to wear it walking around on New Year's Eve with her "boy"...

This was made with Lion Brand "Incredible" in the color Copper Penny, and Lion Fun Fur in Copper. I found the pattern in a book called "More Easy Accessories". I felt that the coppery colors would look better with her coloring than the rainbow-y colors used in the original pattern.

The hat and scarf set I made for my sister-in-law was from a free pattern from Michael's, pattern for the hat is here and the pattern for the scarf is here. I used Moonlight Mohair in Tundra and the Trellis I used was in the color "Night Life", because she LOVES black and I thought that would suit her much better than the brown hues that were used in the pattern.

Hmm..it won't let me add more photos to this post, so the final gift photos will have to wait til the next post!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday season!

Opps...Stitch 'N Bitch = "Inappropriate"?!

2005-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

I had a little time at work today, so I decided to start adding features and stuff to this blog. As I was adding some links to the sidebar, I tried to go to one of them to be sure I had the address correct. According to the Warner Brother's Computer Network, Stitch 'n Bitch is "inappropriate"!

Here is what I got when I tried to go to that page -

My "frappr" map...

2005-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Add yourself to my "Frappr" Map! I've seen this on a bunch of other people's blogs, and thought it would be fun to start one of my own.

"Seraphina"

2005-12-14T08:46:00.001-08:00

I know I haven't posted much lately, but a lot of the things I have been working on are Christmas presents, and I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I promise, after the holidays I will get some pics up of the stuff I have made!

Earlier this fall it was often very cold in our area at work. I decided I needed some sort of wrap, and found a pattern for the "Seraphina Shawl". One of the women at my Stitch 'n Bitch has made lots of these, and at first, I was very intimidated by the pattern, but very quickly caught on to it. I am always surprised at how quickly even the (to me) most confusing pattern turns into something I can not only figure out, but understand and actually create something cool from!

So, here are the pictures of my "Work Seraphina". I am also making one of these in a gorgeous blue/green wool-ease for my Grandmother for Christmas, I will try to get pictures up of that soon.

Housewarming gifts...

2005-11-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of some washcloths I made for a friend's housewarming party. I actually made three, and thought I had pics of all three, but I am missing any visual proof of the 'granny square' one. I know I *thought* about taking pics and but then got busy getting ready to go to the party, and just never got around to it.

These are made with Lily "Sugar 'n Cream" 100% cotton thread...

Hip to be Square Pt. 2

2005-10-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

For some reason I couldn't post all the pictures in one post...so here are the completed project pictures of the baby blanket...

Shadow gives his seal of approval...

So does Justin...although, he didn't know it!

Hip to be Square

2005-10-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? Dang, just realized how long it's been since I posted anything!

Today's post is all about squares....180 of them! My first college roomie, Ena, had a baby in July, and when I heard about it, I had recently started crocheting, so I decided that making a baby blanket would be a great baby gift. In the second class I took, we used the pattern for a baby blanket made of granny squares as a 'sample', it seemed very simple and I thought "Hey it only took me a few minutes to make each of these, how long can it take to make the whole blanket?!" The answer....2 months! I started this at the end of June and finally sent it off to Ena and David when David was about 2 weeks old.

So, here are some pictures of this work as it was in progress and finished....

This is what happens when you don't pay attention to what you are doing - it gets sewn together sideways!

I finally got it straightened out and all the rows put together..now time for the border!

The Very Second (and third....and fourth...) Thing I Crocheted...

2005-08-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned previously, back in June I took some crochet classes at the Michael's in Burbank... This is a picture of the 'sample' pieces I made for those classes -

The three squares on the left will appear in another project I am currently working on, but in different yarn, and lots and lots more of them! They are from a pattern that was used in the second class I took "How to read a written pattern and make a Granny Square". It's a really cute baby afghan and I have several friends who have had or are having babies this year, so I am making it for one of them. More about that later!

After the classes, I picked a relatively easy pattern from one of the books I had as a 'starter' project. I picked a scarf. Yes, that's right, I live in LA and I crocheted a SCARF. As many of my co-workers reminded me "You don't need a scarf in LA", to which I replied "But it's the easiest looking pattern." So anyway, here is the scarf I crocheted --

After I felt confident enough to try something more 'advanced' I found this pattern for a really cute purse...not sure if I would ever use it, but I thought it was really cute! Here are some pics... some mid-project, some after completion-

The Very First Thing I Crocheted...

2005-07-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of the baby blanket I crocheted in college. This was created as part of my characters 'business' on stage during the fall of 1994. I was in the play "The Rimer's Of Eldritch". The square got so large that my director made me rip out a bunch of it and re-do it, to keep it from overtaking the scenes! Also, he told me I couldn't use the yellow onstage, cause it was too bright. During this show all of the actors were onstage the entire show, much of the time in darkness, as other areas of the stage were where the action was going on. I got to the point where I could actually crochet in the dark! The woman who my character did most of her scenes with (our characters were two middle aged women sitting on the porch doing our crocheting/knitting) had a friend show her how to knit a little bit, but by the end of each show she had a lapful of knotted yarn! I remember a couple times my ball of yarn rolled off the back of the platform our 'porch' was on (none of the sets were 'realistic', they were more abstract, so our porch just looked like a platform 3 feet off the ground and the rest of the set was made up of connected platforms of varying sizes and heights, ours was the back platform on one side, so there was nothing behind it to keep the yarn from rolling!)

So, after the play was over, I had this fairly large square. I didn't just want to rip it out or throw it in the back of a closet! Luckily, my older brother and his wife were pregnant, and it was mid-December. So....instant Christmas present!!! When sadie was born May 5, 1995, I went to visit them and was very happy to see that they had kept and were even USING the blanket! Here is Sadie Jane at about 2-3 weeks old when I went to visit over Memorial Day weekend ...

Welcome!

2005-07-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings! And welcome to my 'crochet' blog...

For those of you who don't know, I recently started crocheting. This is something I always thought would be kind of fun to learn, and only in the last few months have I really had the time and money to take up a hobby, and so far I am really enjoying it.

My grandmother taught me a couple of the basics when I was young, but beyond that I hadn't crocheted since one time in college when I was in a play and my character had to have a 'prop' that was her signature. So, one of my mom's friends showed me how to make a very basic Granny Square. That square grew so large during the run of the play, that I decided to call it a baby blanket and gave it to my older brother and sister-in-law, who were expecting a baby, as a Christmas present. I will try to post some picutres of it soon.

Of course, I had completely forgotten how to make a Granny Square by the time I decided to really learn crochet, but thanks to a wonderful instructor at the local Michael's named Victoria, I am now a Granny Square expert! (as evidenced by the 180 granny squares I am making to turn into an afghan to give to a friend!) And I hope to continue to learn more about crochet and to move beyond squares to make lots of really cool items!

A lot of my friends have said that I should post pictures and updates on what I have been working on with my new hobby...and I didn't want to clutter my 'regular' blog with this stuff. Plus, some of the projects I am working on are presents for people who read my 'regular' blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Also, most of the things I am making these days are things I will give as presents (I don't always know WHO it will be for when I am making it, but I figure most of the stuff I make will eventually be given away...cause I like making stuff like hats and scarves, but don't need things like that in LA!) So, if you you're someone I typically give presents to for Christmas, birthdays or any other special occasion, and you see something you love or hate (either the pattern, or yarn or colors), let me know your opinion, 'cause it you may end up getting it as a gift and I wouldn't want to give you something you didn't like!

Thanks for visiting!